Sefton minicab driver jailed after £20,000 of cocaine was found concealed under gear stick Lesley Whitehall, 45, was stopped by police and seen to be "visibly shaking and extremely nervous"
A Sefton minicab driver was jailed for four years after £20,000 of cocaine was found hidden in his car.
Lesley Whitehall, 45, was seen “visibly shaking and extremely nervous” when his Ford Mondeo was stopped by police on the M6 in Cumbria, between Penrith and Carlisle.
Whitehall told an officer he was travelling north to visit a friend in Scotland on September 11 last year.
But when his vehicle was impounded and searched, 125g of high-strength cocaine was found concealed beneath the gear stick.
The drug had a purity of 79% - well in excess of the 10-15% average street purity.
A police expert concluded that the drug could have been bulked out significantly to almost half a kilogram. This would have given it an estimated street value of almost £20,000.
Whitehall denied a charge of possessing class A cocaine with intent to supply.
But after a trial at Carlisle Crown Court, Whitehall, of Ruskin Street, Kirkdale, was convicted unanimously by a jury.
The jury heard taxi driver Whitehall was off-duty when he was stopped by police while travelling north in a vehicle which bore a Sefton plate.
He claimed to an officer he was going to visit a female friend called Chris in Edinburgh.
Kim Whittlestone, prosecuting, said: “He got his phone out and said ‘Chris will tell you she is expecting me’. The police officer took the phone and spoke to a male on the other end.
“The officer said ‘are you expecting Les?’, but the male replied ‘I don’t know what you are talking about’ and put the phone down.”
Jurors heard Whitehall was in dire financial straits.
Miss Whittlestone added: “The Crown say he was clearly in debt and clearly acting as a courier.”
In the witness box, Whitehall was asked by his defence barrister Carmel Wilde: “Were you aware of any controlled drugs in your vehicle?”
“No,” he replied.
Following his conviction by the jury, Miss Wilde asked that the case be adjourned for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.
She appealed for Whitehall to be briefly granted bail so that he could “put his house in order” and say goodbye to his two children, aged eight and six.
But Recorder Michael Murray said he would instead proceed straight to sentence. He suggested Whitehall should have had the foresight to organise his farewells beforehand, knowing that a jail term was possible.
Recorder Murray told Whitehall: “The trade in class A drugs is a really serious problem within society.
“It often brings about addiction then violence and associated criminal offences, illness for users and occasionally death. For this reason the court views all drugs offences very seriously.
“There must be an immediate custodial term of some length - there is no alternative because of the seriousness of what you have done.”
source:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... r-10085624
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